Inbox

A Healthy Debate
Re “America, the Doctor Will See You Now” [April 5]: What a historic accomplishment for President Obama and the country! Unfortunately, it was achieved without any GOP support. Republicans have redefined the GOP as a robotic cult of chronic naysayers who would rather see the country flounder than work to solve the nation’s critical problems. Are there any Republican statesmen willing to work for the public good?
Robert Tormey,
Escondido, Calif., U.S.

Americans need to understand that right now the entire uninsured population has better access to health care than many of those with insurance. Shifting to provide coverage for more people simply increases the already large number of underinsured. The true problem is access to care, which is hardest for the underinsured.
Larry Bloomstein, M.D.,
Memphis, Tenn., U.S.

Despite some unenlightened stubborn resistance, health care reform will generally be accepted in time. Similar movements such as civil rights and women’s liberation took a generation to become a common good.
Alan Benson,
Berlin

After years of caterwauling about the alleged excesses and overreaching of the Bush Administration, the mainstream media was strangely silent about Democratic machinations in passing the health care bill. The uproar would have been deafening had Republicans used the same tactics.
Andy Horvath,
Elverson, Pa., U.S.

This bill is the first step toward bringing the wealthiest nation in the world into the sphere of developed countries where health care is considered a right and not a privilege. I applaud the beginning of a movement that will reduce the number of people who die each year because they cannot afford health insurance and eliminate the hordes of Americans who become financially insolvent because of the cost of treatment.
Gary Barnes,
Portland, Ore., U.S.

Nice Work if You Can Get It
Re “How to Create a Job” [April 5]: The government can help gin up jobs by reducing the 40-hour workweek, which was established in 1940. Since then, technology has increased worker productivity dramatically, resulting in fewer workers producing more. A 36-hour week would require the workforce to be increased to maintain today’s total weekly man-hours.
Sidney A. Centilli,
Clarkston, Mich., U.S.

I oversee 97 employees, 26 in the U.S. and 71 in India, at a large financial company. My offshore employees are superb, but doing a story on U.S. jobs without looking at outsourcing — a huge challenge to the job market — does a disservice to your readers.
Theresa Fitzpatrick,
Groton, Mass., U.S.

Barbara Kiviat’s insightful piece should be required reading for every employer, employee and officeholder in the country.
John Joseph IV,
Birmingham, Ala., U.S.

A Red Peril
Re “Red Heat” [April 5]: The Western media likes to portray the Red Shirts in Thailand as fighting class warfare and protesting the wealth gap. But upward mobility in Thailand is very possible and attainable, as demonstrated by the current urban rich and middle class, many of whom are immigrant Chinese who started with nothing just one generation ago. The ringleaders of the Reds clearly have political motives and are conjuring Marxist catchphrases like class struggle to fool the uneducated masses who clearly don’t know how much damage they are causing their country through their intentionally disruptive and violent activities. Their unlawful behavior is not a fight for democratic justice but an act of ignorant, misled defiance.
Varin Charnyapornpong,
Bangkok

Thailand’s political turmoil can be fixed if the army takes its hands off politics and respects the legitimacy of any political party that wins a general election. Solving problems in parliament without tanks is the only way to go if Thailand wants to achieve peace and economic prosperity.
Rudi Hood,
Southport, Australia

The Real Calculus
Re “Count Me In” [April 5]: The Essay on the U.S. Census was interesting reading. Recently, India also started the task of counting its teeming billion-plus population, with 2.5 million people tasked to begin work on the 2011 census. In these times of global terrorism and many other threats, one can remember the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The true test of civilization is, not the census, not the size of the cities, nor the crops, but the kind of man that the country turns out.”
Larchung Thoitak,
Kolkata, India